Earlier this year, Fortnite forced Sony into enabling cross-platform play for the hugely popular battle royale game. Sony is notoriously strict with its cross-platform options, despite other consoles and companies allowing players to meet up with their friends in-game, regardless of console or platform. The decision will have waves across the game industry—and could eventually impact Overwatch.
Speaking with Eurogamer during BlizzCon 2018, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan said Blizzard is “super-excited about what’s going on with cross-play in all sorts of different games, from Rocket League to Fortnite.” He said that the team is “constantly” meeting with Microsoft to gauge their receptiveness. “It’s something that would be very exciting for us to pursue,” Kaplan said.
Related: Cross-platform play for Fortnite is coming to PlayStation 4
But getting to that point isn’t simple: There’s a reason why it hasn’t been implemented across the games industry. Kaplan said the process is complicated from technological, game design, and business standpoints.
“But we would be excited to tackle all of those challenges,” Kaplan said. “We would try to try. We’re gamers. ‘Why can’t my buddies on this system or that system play together?’ We sympathize with that, and we want to be able to do that, too.”
It’s not the first time Kaplan has spoken about cross-platform play for Overwatch. In May, Kaplan said that Blizzard has no plan to allow players between PC and console to compete against each other. There are just too many “balance and competitive issues” there. But between consoles, cross-platform opportunities were on Kaplan’s mind, he told games™.
At this point, cross-platform play on Overwatch seems a long way out, but it’s definitely still a consideration for the team.
